In high school, I was very active in my school's DECA (Marketing) class/club. My first year in the class as a Junior, our teacher, Mr. P had assigned myself and 3 of my good friends to be in charge of the Giving Tree event that year. This involved a lot of planning, organizing, and follow through, and this; as far as I can remember, and other then planning out my own birthday parties, was my first real taste of event planning. After the Giving Tree Event, I went on to become the DECA Co-Publicity Director my Senior Year with my friend Kristi and we took on several other small events, and decor scenarios and campaigns etc. From here on out I KNEW I wanted to do something in the event field!
When it came time for me to go to college, I chose to go to Western Washington University in beautiful Bellingham and persue my degree in Communication. Communication is more of a broad spectrum degree that can lead to careers in many things, but I did focus my studies on event planning courses and took my final internship course for the Downtown Bellingham Association, helping plan a Summer Outdoor Concert Series. By then, I knew planning events was REALLY what I wanted to do.

So, I had graduated college and a few years had gone by and I had started thinking about how the job I was in wasn't really what I wanted to do, and I still had hopes for my event planning dreams. Meanwhile, many of my friends had started to get married, and I realized what a big, exciting, stressful, fantastic & crazy thing weddings were.

All the while, Christina (my best friend) is off doing her creative thing on the side, like making earrings and creating wedding cards and invites.

We talked it over one day and realized we could definitely combine our forces; with Christina's creative flair and business mind & my event planning sense and both our love for weddings, thus, It's Your Day Events & Expressions was born.

We have been in business for over 4 years and loved every minute of it! We have been in King 5's Best of Western Washington Top 5 Wedding Planner for the last 3 years in a row!

The thing that I love most about this business is that we get to see an event from start to finish AND all the amazing couples we get to meet. It is truly a humbling experience and an honor to be able to share in their special day. What I love about this job is that I get to do it with my very best friend!

What a great amazing honor to share in the special day of these two! Kirby & Derek are in fact old friends/classmates of ours from high school. However, even though they went to the same HS, they did not know of each other until a chance meeting one day a few years back. (See their "Love Story" in the photos below.)
It was a beautiful sunny day on August 11th and the bride looked amazing in her dress, the groom very stunning [slideshow]in his tux, in fact the whole bridal party looked sharp, right down to the 5 flower girls in their black tutus!

The room was adorned in coral, black and ivory with wine bottle and cork accents, with a slight vintage touch. To top it all off was a GI Joe grooms cake and a favor cookie bar from The Cookie Lady!

July 21st, 2012! It was a gorgeous day for a wedding on the Kirkland waterfront, at the always lovely Woodmark! We arrived to Woodmark to find the Marina Room filled with Gillian's flowers- they smelled amazing. Her flowers were very romantic and lush; garden roses, lilies, and in her color pallet of coral, white, green with navy blue vases; crisp and nautical. She was getting ready in her suite, surrounded by all her bridesmaids and moms as the men were getting ready down the way! Gillian looked so beautiful in her lace dress, with an elegant pale grey silk ribbon around her waist. She was a vision! Mitch and his boys looked equally handsome! Courtney Bowlden of Courtney Bowlden Photography was busy snapping up shots of this great couple! Here is a peek into their day!

I loves this last one! It looks as though they are celebrities, making a get away!

Dena & Cameron were the winners of our contest for free Day-of Coordination (see previous post). We were so excited when the day finally arrived and we were able to coordinate their wedding at the absolutely beautiful St. James Cathedral in Seattle.
Dena looked amazing in her sleeping beauty dress and Cam so handsome in his tux.

Friday the 10th of February was a day to remember for these two love birds! What an amazing, amazing wedding. So much love and laughter, and did we mention the cakes? There were 5 total, plus cake pops and mini tarts! All equally delicious. We absolutely loved being a part of their big day, and helping friends and family make their wedding one to remember! Sample of their big day below...

This last weekend was packed full of driving, venue viewing and meeting new clients. One of the meetings that happened to be on the list was with my (Christina’s) wedding photographer Tyler Austin from TAustin photography. My wedding album had finally come in all the way from Italy, hence the wait. I met Tyler at the Tully’s, where we had first met him to book him for our wedding, in Redmond. As I walked in I saw a large black bag that was very striking, which had nicely wrapped items inside of it, I got really excited as I knew that must be my Album! Tyler and I started to talk shop for a bit, and catch up on each other’s businesses, talking about my wedding and his son, and how Rachel was doing (his wife and 2nd shooter/ hair and makeup for TAustin) while swapping stories of house hunting. At one point we got to talking about printing companies and where he gets his printing done, he then lifted up another wrapped item, and showed me a logo sticker from a printing place, and said “oh, this is just a little something extra from Rachel and I”. Then towards the end of our meeting, he lifted up yet another giant box, and said “this is for your album and just something else from us”. I was absolutely stunned from the generosity of all this; I couldn't wait to get home to show Ben! I felt like it was my Birthday or something, trucking all these beautifully wrapped gifts into the house. Ben looked at me and asked “Did you go shopping? I replied “no, this is all from Tyler and Rachel”! He, set his stuff down, and we started to unwrap everything! The 1st was our long awaited album; words cannot define the quality and beauty this timeless piece holds. It is absolutely magnificent, and was included in our package with TAustin. Next was a very nice 2012 calendar that was compiled of our favorite wedding photos. The next was a classy holder for our beautiful album to be on display, like in museum! It is sitting in our living room, on our book shelf as I type. The last, and most wonderful gift that we had gotten, was by total surprise! The day of our wedding we did forgo the videographer, as there were many of people coming that day that had very nice video cameras. We were certain that we would get our ceremony videotaped. Well, low and behold, no one did, and we were going to have to remember it through pictures and memories. In the last gift from Tyler was a video, of our ceremony (including all our pictures on a separate disc). Ben and I played it almost instantly, and we sat on our couch, reliving an amazing day in our lives-it was priceless!
On the day of your wedding ,things go by so fast and your emotions almost take over the ability to really realize what is happening. We couldn't be more thankful for this video, that wasn't even asked of Tyler, he just did it. We were so very lucky to have the wonderful team of TAustin Photography there that day, and we can't thank you enough for capturing our special day in photos, and taping an extremely cherished moment!

Randy Fenoli from TLC's Say Yes to the Dress will appear at Forest Ridge School of the Sacred Heart on Tuesday and Wednesday, November 16 and 17, in a very special event to benefit the "Open Your Heart...Make a Forest Ridge Education Possible" matching campaign for endowed scholarships.

Fenoli will present two shows - including an opening night VIP reception limited to 100 - about his experiences as the star of TLC’s Say Yes to the Dress and Say Yes to the Dress: Big Bliss. Fenoli, Fashion Director at the Kleinfeld Bridal store, is seen by millions of viewers and works with nearly 15,000 brides a year.

He'll share his experiences in a pair of presentations to the Forest Ridge and greater community: Tuesday, November 16, from 7:30-9:00 p.m. and an after-school event on Wednesday, November 17, from 4:30-6:00 p.m.

Tickets are: $150 for the VIP reception and performance on Tuesday, November 16; general admission tickets for both days are $30 for students, $40 for adults if purchased in advance; $50 on the day of performance. Click HERE to purchase tickets.

Also, on November 7th, 2010 from Noon - 5:00pm, You're Invited to an Open House Tasting! Hosted by Simply Seasoned Catering

Location: A Manor of Wine610 1st StSnohomish, WA 98290

If you are planning a wedding, holiday party or corporate event than please join Simply Seasoned Catering for a special afternoon filled with tastes of the season, sweets, music, wedding and party attire, wine tasting and photo shoots.

Seven event professionals will dazzle your senses so you can relax and get the items on your To Do List checked off all in one enjoyable Sunday afternoon.

Get Married is hosting a unique wedding on New Years Eve in Times Square! Bethany and Geoffrey are Marine reservists who met in Iraq. And now they'll say I do in front of millions in the biggest wedding in the world on the biggest night of the year!

Get Married is asking you to help pick every aspect of their wedding from the favors to the rings even to the gown!

Thanks to all our fans, friends & clients, It's Your Day has been announced as #4 Wedding Planning Company in Western Washington! We are truly honored. To see the results and results of other winners go HERE.

To say thanks in the hugest way, we are going to offer a continued discount- not just on bookings for the rest of 2010 for dates in 2010- but for any bookings made through December 31st, 2010 for any open dates we have.

We will also be offering 20% off our boxed set of Christmas and Thank You sets of expressions which can be custom ordered. (See us for details).

Thanks again! Please help continue to spread the word about us- as word of mouth advertising is the most effective as always!

For anyone who doesn't know, we did a search at the end of last year to find an apprentice/intern to help out with events, and learn from us along the way and probably teach us a thing or two as well. In January we brought on a wonderful gal named Hannah that we decided would fit the bill.

Not only has Hannah been a great blogger and a big help at our first wedding of the season but she has great ideas as well. Here is a short bio about her:

Hannah started planning events as a college sophomore, when she became President of a large statewide political non-profit organization. She planned at least 5 events quarterly for the following 2 years, from concerts to guest lectures and formal banquets.

In her senior year at the University of Washington, Hannah obtained a marketing and communications internship at a bridal website. This piqued her interest in the wedding industry and she has pursued a career in it since then. Last year she also worked in a bridal fashion shop, where she was fortunate enough to converse with brides on a regular basis while playing dress up!

Hannah is working with Ashley and Christina to find a way to combine her event planning experience with her love of all things wedding related and hopes to manage her own wedding consulting business someday as well.

I was 12 when I discovered my parents' dirty little secret. After 22 years of marriage, they had forgotten the events of this once happy day and never realized just how dreadful their mistakes were. Initially I found it difficult to look in the eyes of people whom I have always respected and loved. At the tender, impressionable age of 12, I caught my first glimpses of my parents' wedding album. The horror that lay between those pages? My father's robin's egg blue bell-bottomed and ruffled tuxedo and my mother's shapeless hippie dress she made from scratch with three panels of pastel colored polyester on the skirt. Evidently my mother and father have forgiven themselves for their fashion blunders because, when I confronted them with the incriminating pictures, they simply laughed and shrugged their shoulders exclaiming, "It was the seventies!". While my dad may have thought that he looked cooler than The Fonz, he has since admitted that he wishes that he would have just worn a black tux, sans ruffles and flared legs. As you plan your wedding and are tempted by vendors offering to preserve your bouquet or choreograph a bridal party dance down the aisle, keep something in mind: trends are fleeting, but classic styles are timeless. How do you recognize which trends you should ignore and which are here to stay?

This is a difficult problem to sidestep, especially when wedding dresses imitate fashion and there are countless bridal magazine touting the new colour du jour. Recently, volume in fashion is back in a big way and wedding dresses are no exception. In her Fall 2009 line, Vera Wang included billowy dresses in odd shades of yellow and beige that were so voluminous they made models look human sized. Unfortunately, "hot" colors come and go with each passing season; we will probably bid adieu to brown as a bridal color just as quickly as we passed over Vera's purple gowns in 2008. Brides will inevitably choose to wear dresses that actually show off their figures and designers will succumb to this demand in due time. Like my mother's prairie dress with panels of pastel colors, stylish items always go out of style. Make the foundation of your look classic and amp up the modernity by playing with bling and shoe trends instead.

Feel free to succumb to trends if it will save some serious dough or if the trend in question only affects a minor part of the wedding. If financially sound advice also happens to be quite "hip", then it might be worth considering. Using an iPod playlist as wedding music instead of a dj is a virtually free maneuver that will also help personalize your day. Instead of favors, donate money in the guest's name to a favorite charity. However, be wise when sacrificing the fundamentals. Build the bricks and mortar of your wedding day on standard practices and experiment with details that don't matter in the grand scheme of things. When you look back on your wedding in 30 years, all that will have remained is your love and your wedding album. Important decisions like the venue, decorations, guests, and fashion will live forever in your pictures. The food, music, and superfluous details like favors will be long forgotten. Play around with the smaller details to create your own mix of style and timelessness, and you'll be sure to have an unforgettable day that you will cherish for a lifetime.

We were recently interviewed for My Snohomish Wedding to be showcased on their blog. Check it out to find out more information about us and our business at http://www.mysnohomishweddingblog.com (please copy and paste, sorry the html was not working!)